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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

March 9, 2010 Meeting Featuring Will McKnight

Innovation in Business Intelligence: Operational BI and Columnar Databases

TDWI Minneapolis Chapter meeting: March 9, 2010

Connect. Share. Learn. Innovate

ATTENTION ALL BI/DW AND MARKETING PROFESSIONALS IN THE MINNEAPOLIS – St. PAUL AREA

Dear Minneapolis and St. Paul Area BI and DW Professionals,

Innovations in tools and technology continue to influence the Business Intelligence landscape. Look to your local TDWI chapter to help you keep up with changes. We cordially invite you to attend our TDWI Minneapolis Chapter meeting on March 9, 2010. The theme of the March meeting is BI Innovations covering Operational BI and Columnar Databases. The meeting features another well-known and influential industry thought leader, William McKnight (See Abstract Below). Learn from William’s insight, meet other local professionals, swap business cards, share ideas, and exchange technical and career advice while listening to a quality presentation in a vendor-neutral setting, which is the hallmark of TDWI education. Our meeting agenda is below.

We are again pleased that Target Corp will host our March 9 meeting. Please note that this meeting is not in the same room as our December meeting. Please proceed to the CityCenter location and check in at the Skyway level Security Desk. Preregistration will facilitate your entry to the meeting.

Agenda:

7:45 - 8:15 a.m.

Networking and Registration

8:15 – 8:30 a.m.

Introduction and Chapter Business

8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

Innovation Part I: “Operational BI”by William McKnight

Abstract
Business intelligence (BI), utilizing data warehousing as a primary conduit, must change to adapt to competitive pressures. There are business realities forcing these changes. First, there is an information explosion, which can inundate a data warehouse's intake capabilities and render non-automated analysis to the most basic of levels. It is a real-time business world where sub-optimally timed decisions can mean the difference between success and failure. Intraday or during the immediate occurrence of a trigger event is the necessary timing of much intelligence.

Recent advances in information management technology such as Master Data Management, EII and other forms of operational Business Intelligence have allowed for a more nuanced, yet effective, strategy for information management to complement data warehousing.

Join William in a discussion of the value of aligned and accelerated decisions supported by operational business intelligence and an overview of EII, CEP, and DSP as they relate to empowering an operational environment with intelligence.

Columnar DBMS 101 A columnar DBMS is an implementation of the relational theory, but with a twist. The data storage layer does not contain records. It contains a grouping of columns.

Due to the variable column lengths within a row, a small column with low cardinality, or variability of values, may reside completely within one block while another column with high cardinality and longer length may take a thousand blocks. In columnar, all the same data – your data – is there. It’s just organized differently (automatically, by the DBMS).

The main reason why you would want to utilize a columnar approach is simply to speed up the native performance of analytic queries. There is no difference in the SQL or data access tool used to interface with the data or the logical data modeling.

The columnar approach to data management is not new. In fact, the mainframe database Model 204, first deployed in 1972, used a similar approach. However, columnar’s time may have finally come as analytic processing becomes a business imperative.

You Will Learn

Learn about the columnar orientation and how it can be effective for your needs. This is the orientation of Vertica, ParAccel, Sybase IQ, InfoBright, Exasol, VectorWise and MonetDB. As well, Microsoft SQL Server, in its 2010 release, will have an optional column-oriented storage layer.

10:45 – 11:45 p.m.

Innovation Roundtable, Q & A and Collaboration

11:45 - 12:00 p.m.

Closing Comments & Wrap-Up

William McKnight’s Bio

William is President of McKnight Consulting Group. His practice focuses on delivering business value and solving business problems utilizing proven, streamlined approaches in data warehousing, master data management and business intelligence, all with a focus on data quality and scalable architectures.

William has more than 20 years of information management experience, nearly half of which was gained in IT leadership positions, dealing firsthand with the challenging issues his clients now face. His IT and consulting teams have won best practice competitions for their implementations. In 11 years of consulting, he has been a part of 150 client programs worldwide, has over 300 articles, white papers and tips in publication and is a frequent international speaker. William is the author of 90 Days to Success in Consulting. Contact William at william@williammcknight.com or (214) 514-1444.

Please note that TDWI membership, while encouraged, is not required to attend this TDWI Minneapolis meeting. If you value the information and networking opportunities you experience at TDWI Chapter events, you can further empower your career by becoming a TDWI Member. TDWI Membership arms you with a powerful, comprehensive, and constantly growing selection of industry research, news, online content, and peer networking opportunities developed exclusively for Members. TDWI Members also receive discounts on TDWI conferences, seminars, and CBIP exams.

Space is limited so sign up early! To become a member at a 10% discount, please click here and use priority codemincpt1.